Page 63 of Shadowkissed

Fae magic. Old. Forbidden. Powerful enough to wipe me clean of her—but not my soul. That’s what it couldn’t touch. That’s why I’ve felt this emptiness like it’s screaming through my blood.

Everything comes rushing back to me the moment I recognize what has happened. The spell wasn’t strong enough, not for what is between us and I just broke it.

It’s thebond.It’s still there. Damaged. Suppressed. But not broken. Because some things can’t be undone by a spell, no matter how powerful.

She tried to protect me. That’s the part that guts me the most. She did thisfor me.And now she’sgone.

No.

Taken.

I feel it like a missing limb. A void somewhere far, far away—calling me. Crying out with no sound.

Seraphiel.

It has to be him.

I don’t remember how I knew him before, or what she told me—but Iknowhe’s the one pulling the strings behind this nightmare.

And he has her.

My body shakes.

My magic keeps flickering in waves I can’t control yet as my memories try to come back to fill in the blanks. Not fully. But Iwill them.If it takes blood, if it takes fire, if it takes burning every realm between here and hell?—

I willget her back.

And this time nobody’s erasing shit.

31

LIORA

It starts as a whisper.

Not the kind that slinks through these stone halls like a curse or a promise. Not the twisted murmurs of Seraphiel’s court that cling to the corners of my cell like cobwebs.

No.

This one is warm. A heartbeat in the dark.His.

I feel it before I understand it. A sharp jolt through the bond I thought I buried, followed by the slow burn of somethingawakening.

Dante.

I stagger back from the ward lines carved into the floor, the ones meant to keep my power dull and low. The moment the bond flares to life, those lines tremble, glow faintly—flicker.

Oh gods. He remembers. The spell iscracking.

I press a hand to my chest. The pain is almost too much—sweet and raw and familiar. I can feel him. Not clearly, not yet, but enough to know he'ssearching.

Coming.

And I should be thrilled. But all I feel is terror. Because Seraphiel can feel it too. If he’s watching. If he’s close.

If he suspects I let our bond reignite, even for a second… He’ll kill Dante.

Or worse.

---